Study: Print media staying strong in India

Posted by Savita Sauvin on February 17, 2010 at 1:03 PM

While the rest of the world is combating challenges to grab maximum reach through online media and social networking tools, India, with a population of more than one billion but less than 80 million Internet users, has seen a continued growth in traditional print and electronic media over the decade, Rajeev Mantri wrote for Wall Street Journal Blogs.

Indian print media continues to grow, and foreign publishers are also cashing in on the opportunity, launching Indian editions of titles such as Forbes, Harper's Bazaar, Technology Review, Entrepreneur, and even celebrity gossip magazines like People and Hello!.

Photo: m4r00n3d's flickr photostream

According to the country's first-ever youth readership survey undertaken by the National Book Trust-National Council of Applied Economic Research, more than two-thirds of the 333 million or so literate youth in the country prefer newspapers to any other media when it comes to news and current affairs, The Financial Express reported.

More importantly, that 333 million includes more than 122 million literate teenagers, a large number with no income. The current rise in literacy to 73 percent amongst the 13-to 35-year-olds, rising incomes and a vibrant press across different Indian languages contribute to the overall growth of the print medium.

With television news broadcasters completely focused on chasing television ratings in the 24-hour news cycle, the medium is largely perceived as a source of entertainment, and in general lacks the seriousness to establish credibility with its audiences, according to The Indian Express.

The Internet, meanwhile, is just gaining a foothold, and radio continues to be the major source of information in urban India, as in comparison to magazines, while only one in four read books in leisure time, Indian Express reported.

The survey, conducted in November and December 2009, found that television is the largest media with more than 77 percent of the 333 million literate people exposed to it. Newspapers maintain their dominance at 53 percent in terms of the preferred source for news and current affairs, with around two-thirds (63.4 percent) choosing them for credible information over television, which had just 22.2 percent.

Although digital media around the world is being said to replace print, in India, no Web site can measure the readership of a printed newspaper, with a print classifieds market reaching about US$300 million, Mantri wrote.

Exemplifying this fact, a company launched by former Microsoft employee and Wharton School graduate Sharad Lunia, is innovating print in India. ReleaseMyAd, allows customers to print classifieds by offering an easy, seamless and transparent approach with no extra charges, according to Mantri, writing for WSJ Blogs.